Inescapable Destiny
by DarkFoxx63
Summary: A new threat arises that Thalia, and her friends must face, but this threat is not of the world they know. And who is this mysterious guy that Chiron has called to help, and why does she feel so connected to him. And what about my OC what will he do when his past comes back to haunt him? Thalia/OC Rated: M for blood, gore, adult themes, abuse, and rape.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my very first FanFic. I only recently got back into writing, and I am a little rusty. I would GREATLY appreciate reviews.**

**I don't PJO or HOO, they belong to Rick Riordan.**

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Thalia's POV:

Things can never just stay peaceful, can they? It's been 2 months since we defeated Gaea, and ended the second war. I had hoped that our time of peace would last, especially when Lady Artemis told the Hunters and I to rest at Camp Half-Blood for a little while, but of course the fates had different plans. Now here I am sitting in the Big House meeting room representing Lady Artemis along with the rest of the Senior Counselors listening to Chiron explain to us that a new treat is rapidly approaching.

"Epimetheus is gathering an army." Chiron said grimly. He seemed distracted, and kept looking at the clock.

"Is everything alright, Chiron?" I asked. He blinked a few times as if he was coming out of a trance. Then he looked at me and gave me a small smile.

"Yes Ms. Grace." He paused for a moment. "I was just hoping that we'd have some peace after defeating Gaea". Chiron said.

"Don't worry!" Percy spoke up. We all looked at him. "We've been through two wars and suffered many loses, but here we stand. We will just have to do what we've always done when the odds are stacked against us. Work together, and overcome those odds." Percy said confidently. We all stared at Percy in awe. "What?" He asked. Annabeth stood up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well said Percy." Chiron said with a smile. He looked at the clock again and his smile shrank. "Okay everyone we have two hours until dinner. We will continue this discussion tomorrow. I ask that you don't tell the other campers yet. I want them to enjoy peace a little longer before we begin war preparations." With that Chiron's smile was completely gone.

We all nodded and began to walk out of the Big House. As soon as we walk out we notice a large crowd if campers looking up the hill.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked her brother Malcolm, who was standing in the back. Malcolm didn't say anything, just pointed to my tree.

Standing at the base of the tree was someone wearing a pure black cloak, and hood. Whoever it was petting Peleus like they were old friends. They seemed to notice that they were being watched because the person stood up and began to walk down the hill towards us. As the person got closer I noticed that the hood made it impossible to see the person's face.

"Get the younger campers to their cabins" Annabeth ordered. The Stoll brothers and Piper began herding campers away. Annabeth, Percy, and I walked cautiously towards the person. We waited at the bottom of the hill.

"Who are you?" I asked. The person just continued walking, without saying a word.

"I believe the lady asked you a question." Percy said. The person walked right past us, never once speaking. The three of us followed a few feet behind as this stranger made a beeline for the Big House. We weren't more than 30 feet from the Big House when Clarisse stepped in front of the stranger. The tip of her spear inches from the persons face.

"Who the hell are you, and what do you want at this camp?!" Clarisse growled. The person sighed.

"I'm here to see Chiron." The person said. From how deep his voice is I guess that he was a male. "Now if you don't mind I've got business to attend to." He said trying to walk around Clarisse, but she moved with him, keeping her spear in front of his face.

"Oh no." She said. "You still haven't answered my first question. 'Who -The-Hell-Are-You' take off that hood! She ordered. The guy just stood there. I couldn't help thinking. _'Does he have a death wish or something?'_

"Who I am is none of your concern." He paused for a moment. "At least not yet, not until after Chiron and I have our little chat." He added as an afterthought.

You could almost see the smoke coming off of Clarisse she was so mad. "Wrong answer." She thrust her spear forward. The guy just tilted his head to the side causing Clarisse to miss by only centimeters. She pulled back the thrust again, this time aiming for his chest. He quickly side stepped to the right and she missed again.

"Arrgh!" Clarisse yelled felling a combination of anger and embarrassment at the fact that she missed at such a close range. She spun to her right swinging hear spear trying to hit him in the back. He ducked and her spear passed clean over him.

"Look this has been an interesting welcome, but you need to stop before you get hurt." He said to Clarisse. You could hear that he wasn't making an empty threat.

Clarisse just laughed. "I'll show you hurt" she said to him. She swung her spear straight at him, this time aiming for his knees, so he couldn't duck. What he did next surprised all of us.

He lifted his leg and blocked Clarisse's spear with his foot. As soon as he stopped her spear he pushed down causing her to let go of her spear instead of going down with it. He smashes the spear into the ground breaking its tip. He spun to his left for a round house kick that would hit Clarisse straight in the face if Chiron hadn't said come out.

"Enough!" Chiron yelled coming out of the Big House. The strangers kick stopped millimeters away from the side of Clarisse's face. He brought his leg down, and turned his body to face Chiron. Chiron looked at Clarisse who had her back to him, she was standing completely still as she stared at her broken spear. Chiron looked back at the hooded man. His face had a strange mix of relief and sadness.

"Come inside, we have much to discuss and not a lot of time." Chiron looked at the rest of us. (AN: more campers had come to watch the showdown) "The rest of you go back to your cabins and get ready for dinner." Chiron ordered. Percy and Annabeth were about to follow the hooded man towards the Big House. Chiron looked directly at them. "All of you." He said sternly. The two looked like they wanted to argue but they just nodded and turned around, as the hooded man walked into the Big House with Chiron.

After a few minutes the only people left in front of the Big House were I, Clarisse's boyfriend Chris and Clarisse who was still staring at her broken spear.

"Clarisse, are you okay?" I asked placing a hand on her shoulder. She didn't answer, she just started speed walking. Chris and I had to jog to keep up with her. "Clarisse!" We both yelled as we tried to keep up with her. She went into the forest and didn't stop until she got to Zeus's fist.

"Clarisse!" Chris said when we finally caught up to her. "You've got to calm down. You would've beaten him, even if you didn't have your spear!" Clarisse turned and glared at Chris.

"You don't get it do you!" She yelled. "I am a daughter of Ares, and this isn't my first fight. You saw how fast he moved. That kicked would've knocked me out for sure." Clarisse started pacing back and forth. "That's not even the worst part." She mumbled.

"Worst part?" Chris and I say in unison. "What's the worst part? I add.

"He stopped." Clarisse said. Chris and I just stared at her completely confused.

"He stopped?" I repeat. "So you wanted him to kick you in the face?" I asked. Clarisse stopped and looked me. When she saw I was seriously asking she rolled her eyes.

"Do you have any idea how strong you'd have to be in order to stop like he did?" I shook my head. "Very strong. Strong enough to stop all his built up momentum almost instantly." Clarisse answered. "Which means that he wasn't about to kick me with everything he had." She paused for a split second. "If he did I probably would've been killed." She mumbled. Chris walked over to Clarisse and hugged her, obviously not liking the idea of her being killed. "Whoever that guy is, I really hope that he is on our side." before I could say anything the dinner horn sounded.

"We should go." Clarisse said. "Chiron is going to be announcing Epimetheus' rise after dinner." Chris and I nod and we all walk back to the dining area.

When we arrived at the Dinning Pavilion we were surprised at how quiet everyone was being. The campers were only whispering to one another. Even my fellow hunters were completely silent. Everybody was looking at Chiron's table. He was sitting next to the hooded man chatting away. Mr. was back on Olympus with the other gods discussing the new threat that has appeared. I couldn't tell if the stranger was saying anything back, because he was still wearing his hood, but he seemed to nod every so often. Maybe it's just me, but every time I looked up towards them I felt like that guy was looking right at me.

After dinner everyone went to the sing along. It was quiet at first, but after a few minutes everybody seemed to relax especially when everyone found out that some of the Hermes kids had rigged a few of the benches with air bag that went off at random. Everybody was laughing. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing when some of my hunters went rocketing into the sky. But when Chiron stepped out onto the stage I knew what was about to happen. 'Here we go.' I thought to myself. Chiron was about to tell the other campers about Epimetheus' army, and the 3rd war we may have to fight.

"Listen up everyone!" Chiron called as he held up a hand trying to quiet everyone down. Once everyone calmed down Chiron looked out at all of us. You could tell he was pained by the news he was about to share with the camp. "I have grim news for you all." Everyone fell silent as Chiron to one last deep breath. "The Titan Epimetheus is raising and army. He intends to attack Olympus and take revenge for the defeat of Kronos." There were a few gasps, an Apollo child was so shocked that he dropped is still burning marshmallow into his lap causing him to let out a short yelp.

Once the kids trousers were put out Chiron continued his speech. "Now I know that all if you were hoping for a little peace after taking on Gaea, but it seem that we have one more enemy to face." Chiron tried to put give a small smile. "I know that we haven't completely recovered from the losses we suffered in our war against Gaea." Everyone looked down, remembering close friends, and loved ones that were lost in the war. "But we must remember that we are no longer alone in this." Chiron continued. "I along with the other Senior Counselors will be contacting our friends at the Roman camp tomorrow before our Capture-The-Flag game." A few campers got a little excited at the mention of the game. Even in times of darkness we still had each other, and nothing proved that more than when we teamed up for a good game of Capture-The-Flag.

"Speaking of friends." Chiron added motioning for the hooded man to come up on stage with him. The hooded man walked up the step and stood next to Chiron. The campers began whispering to each other. Chiron raised his hand again, signaling for everyone to quiet down. "This is Jake Harper; he will be staying with us here at camp to aid us in the upcoming battle." The whispers were louder now.

"How do we know we can trust this guy?" One of the Ares kids yelled. Some other campers nodded in agreement. "How can we trust someone who wears cloak and hood?!" The kid continued.

"Yeah!" Other campers yelled. I looked over to Clarisse who wasn't saying anything, she was just watching to see how this all played out.

"Please." Chiron said. "Jake is here to help us. He's a frie-" Chiron was cut off by Jake tapping his arm and stepping out in front of him. Everyone fell silent.

Jake clapped his hands together and placed his right hand on his left shoulder. The cloak instantly began to shrink and it turned into a pure black jacket. The jacket's sleeves were rolled up showing off his perfectly tanned and well-toned forearms. The jacket was also unzipped showing the pure whit V-neck he was wearing underneath. There were gasps all around and I could even hear a few of the Aphrodite girls whispering "he's hot" or "nice body" to each other. He was wearing slightly faded blue jeans, and converse. He also had what appeared a knife strapped to his right and left side, and a sword strapped to his back. The sword handle and its sheath were both silver. The guy still had his hood up, making it impossible to see anything above his mouth. Thalia raised her eyebrow slightly impressed, and then looks over to Clarisse who was strangely quiet through this whole thing. She sees that Clarisse was doing the same as her.

"That's a nice trick." The Ares kid said. "But what about your face huh, how can we trust you if we don't know what your face looks like completely?" Chiron stepped forward about to say something, but Jake turned to him and said something that I couldn't hear.

"Are you sure?" Chiron asked. Jake nodded, and turned back towards all of us. He put his hands on his hood, and took a deep breath. In one swift motion he took off his hood. Many campers gasped, and you could almost feel the amount of girl's hearts skipping beats. _And I hate to admit this, but mine was one of those hearts that skipped a beat._

His face was gorgeous to say the least. He had dark brown almost black hair; it was messy looking like Percy's hair. Above his left eye he had a gray streak, like Annabeth, and Percy had after they had help up the sky when we went to save Artemis. But that wasn't the most striking thing about his face, not by a long shot. The part of his face that I couldn't seem to stop myself from starring at was his eyes. His eyes were a bright and beautiful crimson.

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**And this ends the first chapter. So what do you think? Like it, Love it, Hate it? Leave a review and let me know**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well here is Chapter 2. I hope you like it. Feel free to leave a review.**

**And in case you didn't know I don't own PJO or HOO.**

**19OCT13 So I've made some adjustments to chapter 2, nothing major just some minor fixes that I wanted to add.**

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Chapter 2

Thalia's POV

After being with the hunt for so long, and helping rescue girls from all kinds of men, I have become pretty proficient at reading the kind of past a person has had when I look into their eyes. And as I'm looking into Jake's Beautiful crimson eyes I can see a lot of pain and suffering. Whoever this guy is, he's been hurt in the past badly maybe even abused, but I can also tell that he has become very good a covering that up. _'Years of practice.'_ I think to myself. I can also see that his eyes look old like he's seen a lot, which is strange, because he doesn't seem to be much older than me, or at least my never aging body. _'Wow I can see a lot in his eyes. It really helps when they look directly at you. Wait…. He is looking directly me.'_ Jake was staring at me. He looks relieved to see me, but he also looked like he was expecting something from me. When I don't react he looks almost hurt, but he quickly shook that off and looked at the Ares kid who had been hounding him since he got on stage.

"Are you satisfied now?" Jake asked, obviously annoyed. When the kid didn't answer he looked out at the rest of us. "Anymore question you feel that I am obligated to answer? No? Good." He turned to the walk off the stage.

"I have a question!" Clarisse yelled out, while taking a few steps forward. Everyone looked at her, except for me. I still couldn't bring myself to look away from Jake's eyes. When Jake turned to face Clarisse she couldn't stop the wicked smile from forming on her face. "Will you be playing Capture-The-Flag with us?" Clarisse asked devilishly. Jake smiled back at her. It was a beautiful smile, with a hint of mischief. I could feel my heart rate increase. _'Damn, what the hell is wrong with me?'_ I thought to myself.

"Don't worry Daughter of Ares." Jake said still smiling. "You'll get your rematch."

"Good." Was all Clarisse said, before turned and walking back to her cabin. Her cabin quickly followed suit. Chiron looked at his watch and cleared his throat.

"Right, well before I send you all of to your cabins for the night. There is the matter of what cabin Jake will be staying in." He said, trying to get things back on track. The Hermes kid all tensed, except for the Stoll brothers who instantly began planning pranks that they could pull on Jake.

"I won't be staying in any of the cabins." Jake said flatly. Chiron looked at Jake curiously. The Hermes kids all sighed in relief. "I'll be camping out in the clearing by Zeus's fist."

"Are you sure?" Chiron asked sadly. Jake nodded.

"Yeah, it'll be saf- easier that way." Chiron gave Jake an understanding nod, and a sad smile, then he patted him on the shoulder. "What time is the meeting?" Jake asked.

"9:00." Chiron answered "After that you will have some time to get ready for Capture-The-Flag." Chiron finished. Jake nodded, and walked off into the forest.

Chiron turned towards the rest of us and clapped his hands together. "Alright everybody, it's time for you all to head back to your cabins and get some sleep, we've got a big day tomorrow." Chiron said with a smile, trying to get back some of his cheerfulness. Everybody went to their cabins. The Hermes campers were all saying how relieved they were that Jake wasn't staying with them, except for the Stoll brothers who were pouting since they wouldn't be able to pull any pranks on Jake tonight.

I didn't want to listen to Phoebe go on a rant about how Jake was just like every other man, and how she hoped she wouldn't have to be on the same team tomorrow, so I decided that I would be sleeping in my father's cabin tonight. When I got there I immediately stripped out of my hunter's uniform, put on some black basketball shorts and a grey tank top. I lay in my bed, and stared at the ceiling. I could stop thinking about Jake's eyes. I felt like I had seen them before. _'I think I'd remember eyes like that'_ I thought to myself. _'And why was he looking at me?'_ I asked myself. _'He looked almost like he knew me... How is that possible?'_ After several minutes I take a deep breath, push Jake out of my mind and manage to fall asleep.

Thalia's Dream

_ "Hurry!" Luke yelled back while he ran._

_ "Right be behind you!" I yelled. Luke and I had been traveling together for a while now. We still hadn't met little Annabeth yet. Luke and I were in bad shape. 3 days ago we ran into a group of Dracanae, we were still tired from the 2 giants we had battled the day before. Now here we are running for our lives. Less than a mile away from a safe house that Luke and I had set up a while back._

_ 'We'll be okay if we can just make it to the safe house.' I repeated in my head as I ran. When suddenly I was lifted into the air. One of the Dracanae had caught me by my hair. I regretted letting it get so long, and promised myself that if I survived this I would never let my hair grow out this long again. "Luke!" I screamed._

_ "Almost there Thals!" Luke yelled as he turned to look back at me. When he saw me being held by a Dracanae his eyes widened and he started to pale. He didn't have time to think or speak he just acted. Luke threw his sword with all of his might; it spun through the air like a Frisbee and cut through my hair causing me to fall and land on my butt._

_ I let out a small yelp when I hit the ground. When I looked up I saw the Dracanae still looming over me clutching my hair tightly, with Luke's sword lodged deep in its chest, slowly turning into golden dust._

_ "Thalia we have to go now!" Luke yelled as he ran towards me. I felt like I weighed a million pounds. My body didn't seem to want to move. He picked up his sword and grabbed my wrist. "C'mon." He said as he turned to run, but it was too late. The other 3 Dracanae had already gotten behind us. 'This is it.' I thought, as we stood and watched the one in the middle lift its sword preparing to deliver the final blow. Luke put his arm around me and brought me closer. "Get down!" Some yelled behind us. I didn't get a chance to see who it was because without hesitation Luke brought me into his chest and ducked down on top of me. Then everything went black._

End of Dream

I woke with a start, covered in a cold sweat. I always hated it when she dreamt about my past, especially the memories of when it was just me and Luke. They were so bittersweet. I got out of bed and jumped in the shower, hoping that the water would somehow wash that dream out of my mind. After drying off and getting dressed I sat on her bed and looked at the clock above the door. 8:59.

_'Oh fuck!'_ I said to myself as I ran to the Big House. As I got closer she saw a guy with dark brown hair, and a black jacket walking up the steps to the Big House. He seemed to sense me coming because he stop just before opening the door and turned to me just before I started jogging up the steps. I saw his beautiful crimson eyes, and he flashed me a quick smile that almost made my heart stop causing me to trip on the last step. Luckily I only stumbled and quickly recovered and started power walking.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked worriedly as held the door open motioning for me to go first.

"Fine." I said as I quickly walk by him, hoping that he doesn't see how red my face is. I stopped just in front of the conference room doors, took a breath and calmed myself down before I open the doors the conference room. I walk in, and Jake followed in after me. _'9:10, fuck.'_ I say in my head. "Sorry for being late." Is what I say out loud. Everybody glances at us. Chiron gives a small nod, while the Stoll brothers are grinning like idiots.

"What were the two if you doing that's got you coming in late Miss Hunter?" Connor asks, while Travis is still grinning. I don't say anything; I just smack them both in the back of the head as I walk around the table to take my seat. "Ow!" they yell in unison. I just smile as I sit down next to Annabeth. I looked over at Jake and saw that he was leaning against the wall in the back of the room. He caught me looking and gave me a small smile, though he still seems a little hurt. _'Why does he keep looking at me like he's expecting something from me?'_ I ask myself before turning to Chiron.

"So what did we miss?" I ask, trying to push Jake out of my head, and get down to business. Chiron nods at me.

"We contacted Reyna, and Jason at Camp Jupiter, and told them of Epimetheus' army." I nod, and Chiron continues. "They said that they would gladly join us in battle again, but they still had a lot of repairs that they need to make to their own camp and defenses before they can even think about another war." Chiron continued.

"So what are we going to do then?" I ask.

"Tomorrow morning Leo and most of the other Hephaestus campers will load up the Argo II with supplies, and flying to Camper Jupiter to help speed up the rebuild. I nod again.

"I'd like to go too." Annabeth said raising her hand. "I want to help improve the defensive capabilities in Camp Jupiter, and around New Rome." She put her hand down as she finished speaking.

"I think that is a great idea Annabeth." Chiron says with a smile.

"I want to go too!" Percy blurts out. "I mean…. Um… It's been a while since I've seen Jason... Yeah! Jason…. You know, as a fellow child of the Big Three we have to…. Uhh… test each other's skills every so often… to make sure that we are on our game and stuff." Percy rambles. I just roll my eyes, while Annabeth blushes trying not to laugh at Percy's lame attempt a justifying his need to go. You see ever since Annabeth and Percy made it out of Tartarus, Percy has made it a point to always try to stay by Annabeth's side at all times. Chiron nods understandingly.

"Sure Percy." Chiron says trying not to laugh. "You go and make sure that you and Jason are in top shape." The Stoll brother's snicker. Percy sighs in relief and relaxes in his chair. Annabeth just shakes her head and takes Percy's hand giving it a good squeeze.

"Okay everyone that's all we've got." Chiron says, still trying to hold back his laugh. "We will conclude today's meeting. Now it's time to-."

"Wait a minute." Jake interrupted. "What do you mean your concluding this meeting? You haven't even discussed anything important yet." We all looked at him with raised eye brows.

"What do you mean?" Chiron asked. "We discussed sending the Argo II to Camp Ju-."

"Yes, yes helping our allies that's all well and good, but what about our enemies? Do you have an estimate of how many troops Epimetheus has?" Jake asked looking at Chiron. Chiron shook his head. "Great." Jake said. "What about an idea of where, or even when he is planning on attacking?" Chiron shook his head again. Jake look annoyed. "Do you at least have an idea as to who the real mastermind behind this 3rd attempt at destroying Olympus is?" Everyone was looking at Jake in complete confusion, except for Annabeth who was shaking her head indicating that we had nothing. "Perfect, just perfect." Jake sighed. "Here we are on the brink of war, and you are missing 4 of the 5 Ws." Jake shook his head and leaned back up against the wall.

"What do you mean 'Real mastermind'?" Will Solace asked. Jake just rolled his eyes.

"Think about it." He says. "Epimetheus is the Titan of afterthought, and the father of excuses for Odi- I mean Zeus's sake right?" We all look at Annabeth who nods in conformation, then we all look back at Jake and nod. "Then there is no way that he'd actually raise an army to attack the Gods. Yes he may have thought about it after you defeated Kronos or Gaea but as a Titan with literally an excuse for damn near everything it is highly unlikely that he has somehow found the motivation to strike out on his own." Jake looks at us all to see if we understand. Once enough of us have let his words sink in and start nodding he continues. "So that means one thing. Someone or something has lit a fire under Epimetheus' ass, putting him in a situation where he has no choice but to be the figure head for this war."

"That makes sense." Annabeth said. "A lot of sense." She adds.

"So where does that leave us?" Percy asks Jake. Jake just shook his head.

"It leaves us at square one. We know nothing about our enemy." Jake said flatly.

"I don't see you bring anything to the table!" Clarisse snaps. "At least we are doing something, where as you just seem to be running your mouth!" Clarisse was now standing.

"You're absolutely right Daughter of Ares." Jake said calmly, taking everyone including Clarisse by surprise. "I had no idea that Chiron wanted me to join you all in this war when he asked me to meet with him here, so I didn't gather any information. But believe me when I say that will change very soon." Everyone was quiet.

"Alrighty then." Chiron said, taking the opportunity to change the subject. "Now that we are done with that." Chiron said glancing back and forth between Jake, and Clarisse who both nod. "Let pick the teams for Capture-The-Flag." Annabeth and Clarisse's hands shot up as the both volunteered to be team captains. "Alright, alright." Chiron says. "Clarisse gets to pick first, since we all know since Annabeth has already claimed Percy as her permanent first pick. Annabeth and Percy blush, while they smiled at each other sheepishly.

"Right." Clarisse say while rolling her eyes. She turned toward me and asked. "Thalia will you be playing as Artemis' lieutenant, or as the daughter of Zeus today?"

I took a second to think about how I wanted to play today. "I will be with my sisters." I finally say, deciding that I didn't want to risk having to go against the in the game.

"In that case for my first pick, I choose Lady Artemis' Hunters." Clarisse announces with a confident smile.

"I pick the Apollo cabin next." Annabeth says. I can tell she is thinking of strategies already, she picked the Apollo cabin to keep Clarisse's team from having ranged superiority.

"The Hermes cabin." Clarisse said.

"The Hephaestus cabin." Annabeth replied

Those were the only cabins that were participating in today's games. The rest of the campers didn't want to risk getting caught in Clarisse and Jake's crossfire. "Jake?" Chiron called, successfully waking him from whatever daydream he was having. He was staring at me again. "Will you be participating in today's event?" Chiron asked. Jake just looked at Clarisse and smiled.

"Of course I am." He said earning him a smile back from Clarisse. Before anybody said anything Jake said. "I will be on Annabeth's team." Clarisse nodded in approval.

"Alright then everybody." Chiron said. "Go and get ready, Capture-The-Flag will begin after lunch." Everyone made their way out of the meeting room, the only people left were Annabeth, Percy, Clarisse and myself.

"Annabeth." Clarisse called just before she and Percy left.

"Yes?" Annabeth said curiously.

"I need a favor." Clarisse said quietly. Before she could continue speaking Annabeth pulled out the laptop Daedalus gave her, which was folded into a PDA. She placed it on the table, push some buttons and a holographic map of camp popped up. "Cool." Clarisse said. Annabeth nodded and began to draw a route on the map. She circled a small clearing at the end of the route, which was about a mile or so away from Zeus's Fist.

"I'll ask Jake to stay back with the flag. He should understand, since it's his first time and all." Annabeth said as she finished showing us the route.

"Thanks." Clarisse said as Annabeth and Percy left the room.

"I'm going with you." I told Clarisse. She scowled at me.

"I don't need your help. He caught me off guard yesterday; I'll get him this time." Clarisse growled.

"I'm sure you will, but Jake keeps staring at me and I want to know why." I said calmly. Clarisse stared at me for a moment then nodded. We left the Big Hose, and I headed to Lady Artemis' cabin to inform my hunters of our alliance. When I got to the cabin Phoebe was going off about how Leo was trying to convince some hunters to go to New Rome with him for a "Romantic Getaway". 'Well it's a good thing he's not on our team... _'Well maybe not for Leo.'_ I think to myself as I walk into the cabin.

Annabeth's POV

I decided to get the cabins on my team together before lunch starts to give them a quick rundown of my plan, so that way if they had any questions they could ask. I told Jake that I wanted him to stay back with the flag, expecting him to try and argue, but he just nodded understandably and let me continue with my brief. Once I went over everything I dismissed everyone so they could get something to eat before we start. I was about to head to the Dining Pavilion myself when I looked back and saw Jake still staring at the map that I had drawn up.

I walked back over to him and tapped his shoulder. "Do you need me to go over it again for you?" I ask with a smile. _'Maybe he's never done anything like this before.'_ I thought to myself.

"No, I think I understand it." He answers, and then he looked at me. "You're a brilliant tactician." He's said with a smile. Okay now Percy is my boyfriend, and I love him. More than ever now that he and I have taken our relationship to the next level, and have started having sex. But if I am being completely honest with myself Jake is also pretty hot._ 'Still not better than my Seaweed Brain.'_ I think to myself with a smile.

I was brought out of my thoughts when Jake picked up a marker and drew something on the map. "Tell the daughter of Ares I said to bring her A-Game" he said still smiling as he turned and walked away. I was totally confused, until I looked at the map. He had drawn the exact route that I had made for Clarisse. _'Who is this guy?' _I asked myself what several times as I erased Clarisse's route and walk towards the Dining Pavilion.

Jakes' POV (A/N: It's about time.)

Meals here at Camp Half-Blood are… interesting to say the least. I've had to hunt, and scavenge for my food for so long that it was weird just walking up to a huge table full of food and being able to get whatever you want. I grabbed a couple hotdogs, a half-rack of BBQ ribs and a lot of fruit. I saw all the campers were walking up to big fire pit and tossing some of their food into it. I remember Chiron saying something about offerings to the gods. I walked up to the fire and stood the, unsure of who I should send this offering to. After about a few second I know who I'm making this offering to. '_For you Lady Hestia thanks for looking out for me.' _I think to myself as I scrap the ribs into the fire. I suddenly feel all warm inside and can't help but to smile knowing that she got my offering. I turned around and walked over to the table that Chiron was at and sat next to him.

"Who did you make the offering to?" He asked, I could tell he was a little concerned.

"Lady Hestia." I answered. "She is one of the only 2 Olympians that even know I exist, and the only one who knows why I was sent here." Chiron expression changes from concern to all out worry. "Don't worry Chiron. She promised me that she wouldn't say anything. At least not until I make my choice." Chiron let out a breath and nodded, though he still looked concerned. For the next 30 minutes or so Chiron tried making small talk, but I kept getting distracted by different thing. First it was these "Enchanted Goblets" that everyone had; they filled themselves with whatever drink you want. And they never get empty! I honestly think I drank about 3 liters of Dr. Pepper. Then there was Thalia. I quickly turn away from her and nod a Chiron who was still talking. I looked at the Hermes table and couldn't help but laugh at them. They were all joking around and laughing with one another. _'Reminds me of the good old days.' _I think to myself. I looked over to the Ares cabin and saw the girl who challenged me to a fight staring at me, analyzing me. _'She is a true warrior. This is surely going to be a good fight.'_ I think to myself as I finish of my last hotdog, and taking another big gulp of Dr. Pepper. I look over to the Hephaestus table and see that most of the kids were fiddling with different gadgets, and toys. One of the campers was working on a golden sphere. _'That one must be Leo.'_ I thought to myself. I had heard that he had found some of Archimedes' old gadgets. _'I wonder if he wouldn't mind tell me about them.'_ I decided that I would ask him after the game. I glance back over to Thalia, and almost as quickly as I look at her I look away. I see Percy Jackson sitting at his table. I can't help but notice that he and Annabeth keep sneaking glances at each other_. 'Young love.'_ I think to myself with a small smile.

I decided to stop fighting it, and looked over at Thalia again. She was talking and laughing with her sister hunters. _'She really doesn't remember.'_ I think to myself as I sigh. _'I guess it's understandable. Between my enchanted ring and Thalia getting turned into a tree.'_ I can't help but grimace at that memory. Watching her sacrifice herself for her friends and getting transformed into a tree. _'If only I was a little stronger then, a little faster. I could've saved her.'_ I'm brought out of my internal pity party by Chiron clearing his throat and telling everyone to get ready for the game. After getting my weapons I jog over to Annabeth, who hands me a blue flag and I take off running into the forest toward the spot Annabeth marked on her map. The spot where I knew the Daughter of Ares would be heading to so we can fight for real this time. I place the flag in the middle of the clearing and lay down right next to it. It hadn't been more than 15 minutes before I heard foot step approaching quickly toward me. "Here we go." I say with a smile.

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**And that concludes chapter 2 again I hope that you enjoyed it. I had a blast writing it. leave a review and let me know what you thought about it. Have a fantastic day.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Finally here it is! CHAPTER 3! I'm so sorry for taking so long to get it out to you.**

**As always I don't own PJO or HOO.**

**I hope you like it. Please leave a review telling me what you thought of it.**

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Chapter 3

Thalia's POV

It didn't take long for Clarisse and me to get the clearing that Annabeth had marked for us. The clearing was the size of half a football field. As we got closer we saw the blue teams flag planted firmly in the middle of the clearing, with Jake laying down next to it. Once we stepped into the clearing Jake kicked his legs up and flipped to his feet. He looked surprised to see me with Clarisse, but he shrugged it off and shot us both a smile. _'Gods he has a beautiful smile.'_ I think to myself then I mentally face palm. _'Damn it Thalia, you're a hunter for Artemis' sake. You can't go getting all goo-goo eyed over some boy. Especially this boy.'_ I scold myself.

"You don't strike me as the type of person who asks for back-up in a one-on-one fight Daughter of Ares." Jake teased.

"Believe me, I'm not." Clarisse answered as she readied Maimer. "But sparky over here said she had something that she wanted ask you." She finished.

I glared at Clarisse, who stuck her tongue out at me as she began circling Jake. I looked back who was eyeing me curiously. "Why do you keep looking at me?" I asked.

"Am I not allowed to look at you?" he asked back. "I knew that Lady Artemis' Hunters didn't like men, but damn." Jake said with a smirk.

"That's not what I mean." I say while rolling my eyes. "I mean, why you keep look at me like your expecting something from me. Like you know me?" Jake's smile shrank, and I saw sadness in his eyes. He bit his lip, (to which I mentally face palmed again for thinking it was kind of hot) looked down at the ground around my feet for a moment, and then he smiled a small but mischievous smile as an idea popped into his head.

"Tell you what Thalia." Jake said finally. "You two beat me." He unsheathed the knives that were strapped to his sides, his smile shrinking as he spoke. "And I will tell you why I look at you the way I do." Jake wasn't smiling anymore; he was looking me right in my eyes. His crimson eyes seemed to glow a little.

"I told you that I don't need any back-up." Clarisse growled.

"I know you did." Jake said as he turned away from me to face Clarisse. "But we don't have a lot of time, so I won't be able you fight you both one at a time." Jake paused for a moment. When he saw confusion on Clarisse's face he knew he was going to have to break it down Barney style for her. "You both know what a brilliant tactician Annabeth is, and with the two strongest warriors on your team here with me I'd be willing to bet that we have less than 40 minutes before some storms into this clearing with a red flag." Jake's smile had returned.

_'He is really good at covering up his feelings. I wonder what it is he's trying to hide. A lot of hurt, I can see that much but I wonder what happened to him.'_ I thought to myself.

It only took Clarisse a few seconds to realize that what Jake was saying was true. She was so caught up in having this fight that she left her team. She gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath. "Fine." Clarisse said in a low growl. She didn't have time to argue about it. She had to beat Jake quickly so they could get the flag and go. "Just don't get in my way!" Clarisse yelled at me. I didn't answer her. I just readied my spear and began to circle Jake along with Clarisse.

Jake let out a small chuckle, while he stood there opening and closing his hands. I was wondering why his knives didn't fall when he opened his hand, but then I noticed that they weren't knives. They were some kind of brass knuckle looking things, with points over his fingers, and five inch blades. (A/N: The chakra blades that Asuma from Naruto uses) I also noticed that they were pure silver, just like the handle, and sheath of the sword he had strapped to his back. _'What are those?'_ I asked myself.

Jake's POV

I couldn't help letting out a small chuckle. Even though The Daughter of Ares was against fighting alongside Thalia, their movements were completely in sync with each other. They circled me in a counter clockwise motion. I opened and closed my hands for two reasons. 1) So that they knew I wasn't fighting with normal daggers. And 2) I wanted to see if they'd get the hint, that even though I've got these weapons in hand I can still grab things. Unfortunately for them, they didn't.

They both thrust at the same time. The Daughter of Ares aiming for my back, Thalia aiming for my chest. I quickly turned to the side, caught both spears and pulled inward so that the tips were centimeters from each other's throat. They tried to pull back, but the spears wouldn't move. I could see that they were both worried about hurting the other if they tried electricity; I think that the Daughter of Ares may have forgotten that Thalia could handle her electricity. I heard them both grumble as they released the spears. I then quickly spun on my heels while extending my arms, hitting them both in the ass with the poles of their spears causing them to stumble and fall to their knees.

I stepped back a few feet while it tossed both spears away. Now the three of us were in a kind of triangle, with Thalia being a few feet closer to me than the Daughter of Ares. They both quickly got up and face me, their faces red with both embarrassment, and anger. I could help but grin with excitement as the Daughter of Ares drew her sword. We both looked over at Thalia, curious as to what weapons she would choose for round two. Being a hunter she had two choices now that her spear was gone. She had her bow and her hunting knives. My smile grew wider when she pulled out her hunting knives and gave the other girl a confident nod.

_ 'Now the real fun begins'_ I thought to myself as I took my stance.

Thalia's POV

Words cannot be pissed I am (and maybe a little embarrassed) I glance over to Clarisse and saw that her face was just as red if not redder than mine. We both jumped to our feet and faced Jake. He grinned when Clarisse drew her sword, then they both looked over to me. They were waiting to see what weapon I was going to use.

After thinking for a moment I decided to go with my hunting knives. I didn't want to risk mistakenly shooting Clarisse with an arrow, plus I wanted to get a close up of Jake's face when Clarisse and I put him in his ass. When I pulled out my 8in Celestial Bronze knives Jake's grin turned into a full on smile. Clarisse and I both hesitate for a moment. That was the first genuine smile I've seen from him. Don't get me wrong his normal smile is dazzling, but in his eyes I could always tell he is trying to cover a deep sadness. Clarisse and I were snapped out of our little trance when Jake took a stance that I had never seen before.

Jake turned his body 45 degrees placing his left leg behind his right about shoulder width apart. Jake's right leg was in front of his body, with his foot pointed in between Clarisse and I. (A/N: Clarisse and Thalia are about 6ft apart) and his heel was slightly raised and lightly bouncing. His shoulders raised and he put up his fists. (A/N: Do you know what style this is?)

With Jake's fists raised, Clarisse seemed to finally notice how strange his blades were. "What the hell kind of weapons are those?" Clarisse asked. Jake gave a small smile. I could see that he took pride in his weapons.

"You like them?" Jake asked as he opened his hands and pointed fingers at us. His fingers really were in the metal like brass knuckles. "They make it easier to multitask while fighting." He said "Well, you both saw that first hand." He added glancing at our spears that were on the ground.

Clarisse's cheeks turned a light shade of pink, but her curiosity outweighed her embarrassment. "Why are they silver?" She asked. "What are they made of, some kind of steel?" She added. Jake just shook his head.

"These, along with my sword are made of Chaos Silver." He didn't wait for her to ask what that was. "It's a rare metal that can only be retrieved from the clouds above Olympus every 30,000 millennia or so. I doubt the gods themselves even know it's up there." He added.

"Wait a minute!" I cut in, obviously annoyed. "Why are you answering all of her questions?" Jake just shrugged.

"Think of it as conciliation for not getting her one-on-one fight." Jake answered as his face got that serious look back in his eyes.

Clarisse seemed to remember that we had a limited amount of time, because without any more words she charged at Jake. I quickly did the same. Clarisse slashed horizontally, aiming for Jake's neck. Jake punched forward blocking Clarisse's sword, then he front kicked her right in her shield; pushing her backwards. I side stepped around Clarisse as she tried to keep herself from falling and began attacking Jake.

I slashed at his lead leg, hoping to cause him to stagger backwards, but he lifted his knee to his chest causing me to miss. I went with my momentum and spun around hoping to catch him off guard with my other knife. As I spun I saw Clarisse had recovered from the kick and was waiting for her chance to attack. She mouthed "head, left" and prepared to strike. I gritted my teeth and stabbed at Jake's neck. He blocked my attack at my wrist with his forearm. _'I hope Clarisse knows what she doing.'_ I thought to myself as I quickly tilted my head to my left. Clarisse's blade shot straight through when my head would've been had I not moved fast enough, cutting a few strands of my hair in the proses.

For a second I thought Jake gave himself whiplash with how fast he moved his head to his left. Clarisse's blade didn't even scratch him. We didn't have time to be surprised, because as soon as Jake's head was out of the way of the attack he dropped down low and swept my legs out from under me. He placed his right hand on the ground for support the kicked with his left leg hooking his foot on Clarisse's shield and pushed it to the side, exposing her torso. Jake spun on his hand and kicked Clarisse right in the gut, causing her to stagger backward gasping of air. Jake pushed off his hand and flipped to his feet. By then I was back on my feet charging.

Jake's POV

Fighting both Thalia and the Daughter of Ares wasn't what I had originally planned, but I am very glad that it worked out this way. Thalia and the Daughter of Ares both had their own unique way of fighting, but they blended together nicely. Whenever Thalia was attacking the Daughter of Ares would wait for her chance to try and surprise me (which often ended in some rather close calls for Thalia) and when the Daughter of Ares was attacking Thalia wasted no time positioning herself behind me (which more times than I expected involved some rather close calls for the both of them). We were in another little triangle when I felt someone coming. _'Damn it all.'_ I thought to myself. Whoever it was they were about four minutes away. Based off of how fast they were moving they must be pretty built, but they weren't carrying a shield. _'An archer.'_ I guessed. Since I felt them so far away it couldn't have been a Hunter, and the Apollo kids were on the same team as me gunning for the red flag. _'Another Ares kid, but this one has a bow.'_ I concluded. Thalia and the Daughter of Ares don't know the archer is approaching, and I can't exactly tell them that I can sense a presence approaching. I doubt that they would believe me anyway. They'd think that I'm just trying to distract them. I decided to deal with it when the archer got here. Hopefully the archer would have enough sense not to do anything rash, like fire when his teammates were so close to the target.

Thalia charged in first, she slashed at my head and stabbed at my gut at the same time. I side stepped dodging both attacks, then I pushed her arm in causing her turn so that her back was facing me. I gave her a swift kick in the ass to which she let out a small yelp that I couldn't help but chuckle at. Then I jumped back to get out of the way of the other girl who was bringing her sword down vertically. The Daughter of Ares slashed outward as she passed me, and I jumped back once again this time she cut the white shirt I was wearing. She gave me a cocky smile before slashing at me again. I punched her sword away then quickly stepped in and kneed her shield, grabbing her wrist as she stepped back. I pulled her toward me and turned, bringing her arm over my shoulder. I flipped her over my shoulder, and she landed on her back with a rather loud 'oof'. I turned around and delivered a swift round kick into the shoulder of Thalia who was trying to charge at me. Then I took a couple steps to my right, to put some distance between me and the Daughter of Ares, who was quickly getting back to her feet. I circled around Thalia, waiting for her to attack. She slashed at my neck, I leaned back and dodged her slash then she stabbed at my chest. I spun to the right, catching a glimpse of the Daughter of Ares coming up Thalia's left. She slashed low, aiming for my leg; I planned on raising my leg when I finished my spin when I saw it coming. _'Shit!' _I thought to myself as I realized that it was heading straight for Thalia.

Thalia's POV

I slashed for Jake's neck, and he just leaned back dodging it. Then I stabbed at his chest, he spun out of the way but my momentum kept me moving forward. Then I saw it. 'Oh fuck.' I thought to myself as an arrow that seemed to come from nowhere came slicing through the air straight at me. What happened next took less than a second, but time seemed to slow down.

I felt pressure on my shoulder, and my body started to move. I looked over and saw that Jake had managed to stop himself mid spin and was pulling me out of the way of the arrow. Well pulling may not be the best word to describe it. It was more like throwing, yeah throwing. Jake threw me into Clarisse. The impact made her swing wild, causing her to cut Jake's left thigh but that wasn't all. Jake pulled me so hard that he lurched forward right into the path of the arrow. The arrow hit Jake in his left shoulder, but somehow he managed to stay standing even though he just got hurt badly.

Clarisse and I started untangling ourselves from each other while trying to catch our breath, as Jake stood with his back towards us facing the direction the arrow came from. Jake sighed in annoyance, and pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. Clarisse and I both winced, but Jake didn't seem bothered by it at all as he stood there twirling the arrow in his fingers. Clarisse and I managed to untangle ourselves, but were still having trouble getting to our feet. _'Damn he threw me hard. Knocked the wind out of both of us.'_ I thought to myself as I struggled to catch my breath. Jake stopped twirling the arrow, and threw it so hard you would've thought that it was shot from a bow. When the arrow disappeared into the branches of a tree we heard a rather loud yelp, and a kid fell out of the tree, landing on his ass with a very loud 'oof'. The kid was short, but buff with light brown hair. _'One of the Ares kids.'_ I assumed, but it wasn't just any child of Ares, it was the kid who was giving Jake a hard time about his identity at the camp fire yesterday. As I looked at the kid, and saw that the string of the bow he was holding had been cut. _'Did Jake do that?'_ I asked myself.

The kid quickly stood up and rubbed his bruised coccyx. The kid looked at Clarisse and me, and then looked at Jake while drawing his sword. "Don't… interfere!" Clarisse ordered, still a little out of breath. The kid looked at us, displeased with Clarisse's demand.

"But he's hurt!" the boy said back, pointing a Jake's leg and he took a couple steps towards Jake. "I could easily take this…" the Ares boy froze when he looked back at Jake. The boy's eyes widened and his face started to pale. He started taking short, hyperventilated breaths and started shaking.

"You should listen to your sister." Jake said darkly. A shiver went down my spine, this wasn't the gentle sweet voice Jake has been speaking to us in, and this voice was more of a growl, almost monstrous. I felt Clarisse grab my wrist and squeeze lightly; I could tell she was thinking the same thing I was. I couldn't begin to imagine the look on Jake's face when he spoke like that. The Ares kid seemed to be completely paralyzed as he looked at Jake; I noticed a wet spot on the front of his shorts that seemed to be growing. "LEAVE!" Jake barked. The kid jumped, dropped his sword and took off running in the other direction.

Jake took a deep calming breath, before looking back at Clarisse and me. "Are you two okay?" Jake asked worriedly, I saw honest concern in his eye which took both Clarisse and I by surprise.

"Yeah." Clarisse finally manages to choke out.

Jake eyed us curiously as he turned his body to face us. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Forget us." Clarisse said abruptly. "Are you okay?" she said still in shock.

Jake followed her gaze, and looked at his injured left shoulder which wasn't bleeding much, and his cut left thigh which was bleeding quite a bit. "Oh yeah." He said nonchalantly. "You got me good there." Jake put the blade that he had in his left hand back in its sheath and gripped his leg to apply pressure to the wound. Then he took his weird stance again, only this time his injured leg was his lead leg. Clarisse and I both hesitated.

_"He seriously still wants to fight us, is he crazy?'_ I asked myself. Jake noticed our hesitation, and smirked at us.

"Oh C'mon, do act like either of you would let a small scratch like this stop you from continuing on." Clarisse nodded in agreement, then raised her sword and slowly advanced on Jake. "This is the most fun I've had fighting in a long time." Jake said while doing the 'bring it' motion with his right hand. "I don't want it to end until we have a winner." Jake finished.

Clarisse slashed at Jake. His smirk quickly disappeared; he looked disappointed as he easily dodged her attack and slashed upward at Clarisse's face. I gasped and moved towards Clarisse who had taken a few steps backward, clearly in shock that Jake was still able to move so quickly even with those injuries. When I got to Clarisse she had taken off her helm to assess the damage. The cut started at the very bottom of her cheek protector, and went all the way up; he had even cut off a chunk of her red plum. I glanced at Clarisse's face and didn't see even the smallest mark. I wanted to believe that he missed or couldn't go deep enough to actually hit her, but I knew that wasn't true. _"Jake's attack didn't do any more or less damage than he had intended it to do.'_ I thought to myself. Then I realized something: that was the first time that Jake had actually used his blade to attack one of us. This entire time he's been using his kicks, knees or elbows; only ever using his blades to block our sword.

I looked back over to Jake who still had that slightly disappointed look on his face. He shook his head a little and sighed "Look, I swear by the River Styx that I won't make any excuses if you two bet me while I'm like this." Thunder rumbled in the distance. "So please don't insult me like that again." Jake finished.

Clarisse was taken back. I saw in her face that she was ashamed of herself. Jake was a warrior just like her, and she had insulted his pride by trying to go easy on him. An insult that she was all too familiar with, that was something she's had to deal with ever since she arrived at Camp. Even though she was a child of Ares people still wanted to take it easy on her just because she was a woman. Even now she still has to deal with it even though she's proven herself many times over to be one of the toughest demigods in either Camp. Whenever a new child of Ares arrives or even some yoked up Hephaestus kids, they always give her strange looks and tease as to how a woman can be the toughest camper in all of Cabin Five. That is until Clarisse throttled them, but here she was insulting another true warrior the same way.

Clarisse stabbed her sword into the ground in front of her then stood up straight, with her shield strapped tightly to her left arm, and her scarred helm under her right. She then bowed slightly, making sure never to break eye contact with Jake. "I am truly sorry for insulting your pride as a warrior." She said sincerely. "I promise that from here on out I won't give you anything less than my best." Clarisse promised. Jake seemed to be satisfied while her words and gave her a huge grin.

"I accept your apology, and Thank-You." Jake said happily. "Like I said earlier, this is the most fun in a fight I've had in a long time. You are without a doubt a great warrior Daughter of Ares, and a beautiful fighter. I can't wait to see you throw everything you've got at me." Jake took his stance again.

Clarisse gave Jake a small nod as she stood up straight, then proceeded to put her helm back on. I glanced over to her, and noticed that just before she put her helm on that her cheeks had turned a light shade of pink. _'Is Clarisse LaRue blushing?'_ I asked myself, but decide that it would be in my best interest not to ask out loud.

After she finished with her helm she pulled her sword out if the ground. "Hey Thalia." She said quietly to me. "I know we don't have a lot of time left but from here on, I want to fight alone." I opened my mouth to protest, but when Clarisse looked at me I stopped. She knew she couldn't beat him. I could see that in her eyes, but I also saw a shine in her eyes. She was a warrior just like Jake, and she wanted to fight with everything she had, win or lose.

_ 'A proud Daughter of Ares.'_ I thought to myself as I nodded, and took a few steps back.

"Thanks." She said as she readied herself. I didn't even have a chance to respond as before she charged at Jake. I couldn't take my eyes of them as they fought, neither of them wanting to give up. Jake never took his hand off his hurt leg so he was dodging less and blocking more, but that didn't stop him from striking Clarisse with knees, elbows and kicks. And though her blade never seemed to find Jake she did get a few good bumps with her shield. Both Clarisse and Jake had grins on their faces as the fought, but I knew that this match would be coming to an end soon.

Jake side stepped Clarisse's vertical slash, and took a couple steps back. He tightened his grip on his leg, and his right fist dropped to about waist level. Clarisse studied him for a moment then moved in on him. She thrust with all her might at Jake's chest. Jake stepped to his right dodging the thrust and with his left leg kneed her shield causing her to stagger back a few steps. Then Jake quickly spun back and raised his left leg for a round kick, like the one he would've hit Clarisse with when they first met, only this time Jake connected with the side if her face.

Clarisse spun around, dropping her sword. Her back slammed against a tree, causing me to wince as she slid down the trunk of the tree. I took a step in her direction and saw that she was still breathing, just out cold. I looked over to Jake who was eyeing my curiously. "You still want to know why I look at you the way I do?" He said with a smirk. I didn't answer; I just readied my hunting knives and charged.

Jake's POV

I wasn't lying when I said that the Daughter of Ares was a beautiful fighter, after Thalia agreed to let her fight me on her own she really did come at me with everything she had. And the best part of it all was that she seemed to only get better as the fight went on, even getting in a few good shots with her shield though I made sure her sword never touched me. I honestly didn't want the fight to end, but we were running out of time. I felt someone approaching from the South; they were about two minutes away at most, and moving quickly through the forest. _'A hunter.'_ I thought to myself. But that wasn't all, from the west a powerful demigod was dash towards us too. _'Percy has the flag.' _I assumed. He was only a few seconds behind the hunter.

I looked at Thalia, who had made sure that the Daughter of Ares was okay. "You still want to know why I look at you the way I do?" I asked, half teasing. Luckily for me she wasn't interested in talking; she just readied her hunting knives and rushed me. Just like the Daughter of Ares she came at me with everything she had, but I didn't have time to admire her improving skills. I had to end this quick.

_'90 seconds.'_ I thought to myself.

I dodged Thalia's first four attacks, and blocked the fifth.

_80 seconds_

Thalia took two steps back and began analyzing me for an opening. _'The hunter stalking her prey.'_ I thought to myself as she circled me.

_60 seconds_

I turned my body so that my right leg was my lead, and my injured leg was in back, then I lowered my fist to about my abs exposing my shoulder. _'Take the bait.'_ I thought to myself, as I saw Thalia notice the small opening I had created in this stance.

_50 seconds_

Thalia stabbed with her left knife aiming for my exposed shoulder. I quickly side stepped and grabbed her wrist, twisting it slightly causing her to drop the knife that was in her hand.

_40 seconds_

Thalia tried to stab at my gut with right knife but I quickly let go of her left arm and grab her right. Then I turned so that my back was against the front of her body. I dropped my weight and flipped her over my shoulder like I did with the Daughter of Ares, only this time when she hit the ground I rolled on top of her.

_20 seconds_

I had my left foot on her right wrist, making her unable to use her knife. I didn't put all of my weight on it because I didn't want to hurt her, just keep her from using her arm. My right knee kept her left arm tucked under her body, and was pressed so close to her bicep that even if she manage to get her hand out from under her she wouldn't be able to use it. My body was seated lightly on her stomach so that she couldn't kick me in the back and my blade was at her throat, pressed gently so that I wouldn't cut hurt.

_15 seconds_

"Yield." I told her as she quickly struggled to get out from under me, never breaking eye contact with me. As I looked into her electric blue eyes that seemed to be trying to suck my into them, I had to fight hard to keep the memories from resurfacing.

_'We will see each other again, I know it.'_ My promise to her ringing in my ears. I broke away from her eyes and looked down at her lips. I still remember their softness, and the taste of blueberries. I was so distracted that I didn't notice that I was slowly moving my face closer to hers until I was only two feet away.

_8 seconds_

_'Damn it Jake, she doesn't remember.'_ I scold myself.

_7 seconds_

"Yield Thalia." I whispered.

_6 seconds_

My speaking seemed to break her from some kind of trance as she blinked rapidly a couple of times.

_5_

She tried once more to get out from under me only to fail again.

_4_

She looked up to me and gritted her teeth. I could tell that it really wasn't in her nature to admit defeat. I tried hard not to laugh, but I couldn't stop the smirk from forming on my face.

_3_

She let out a small sigh, and she came to terms with her loss.

_2_

She opened her mouth to speak, but it was too late.

_1_

"Times up." I said with a sigh as I felt a notched arrow poke the back of my head.

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**And that's the end of Chapter 3. I had originally planned on continuing the chapter, but when you're a Marine 24/7 its hard to find time to write, especially now that I have House of Hades. So because I wanted to update as quickly as possible I decided to end chapter 3 here.**

**Once again I hope you liked it. Please leave a review and tell me your thought.**

**Have a wonderful day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**At long last here is Chapter 4.**

**I hope you enjoy it.**

**And of course I do not own PJO or HOO.**

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Chapter 4

Thalia's POV

_'Damn it!'_ I thought to myself. Jake had gotten me with that same damn flip he got Clarisse with, now he had me completely pinned. His left foot on my wrist keeping me from using my knife, he had his right knee pressed up against my left arm making it impossible for me to get it out from under me. He was seated high enough on my gut so I couldn't kick him, and his blade was at my throat. I noticed that he wasn't putting all of his weight on me.

"Yield." Jake ordered as I struggled to get out from under him, never taking my eyes off if his. Artemis had taught us to never let go of our opponent's eyes, especially when it seemed like they had the upper hand. Well, Jake did have the upper hand, and staring into his eyes... Definitely a bad idea.

His crimson eyes were so beautiful and captivating. I felt like I could stare into them forever. His eyes shined slightly, like he was fighting back a beautiful, but all the same painful memory. I felt a dull pulling in the back of my mind, like when Lady Artemis asks me for the hundredth time the difference between cover, and concealment. Thankfully Jake was the first to break away, and my eyes were free to scan the rest of his face. He really was gorgeous, the way strands of his unruly hair pointed in all different directions. The silver streak about his left eye, his flawless tan skin. My eyes finally settled on his lips. _'Soft but at the same time strong.'_ I thought to myself, not caring as to how I knew that. I felt a strange tingle in my stomach and suddenly thought of chocolate covered strawberries, sweet and slightly tart. I watched as Jake's lips slowly came closer to me, but I was too wrapped up in this alien feeling that had made its way into my body to care. I wanted to know how his lips felt. I was broken from my trance when Jake whispered "Yield."

I blinked rapidly, almost as if waking from a dream. I remembered that I was supposed to be fighting, and tried once again to get out from under Jake. When that didn't work I gritted my teeth, not wanting to admit defeat. Jake smirked a little, which annoyed me but I knew it would do any good to struggle any more than I already have so I sighed as I admitted to myself that I had lost this one.

"Times up." Jake said with a sigh, right as I was about to speak.

I was totally confused until I saw Phoebe standing behind Jake with and arrow pointed at his head. "You're right about that boy." She said with a cocky smirk. "We will be taking that flag now." Jake began to smirk at Phoebe's declaration of victory.

"Actually, I was talking you Hunter." And just as he finished his sentence Percy burst from some bushes triumphant holding our flag. Phoebe looked at Percy in shock, and then scowled as she looked back at Jake.

"Get off of her boy." Phoebe said, pulling back on her bow a little more. Jake took his blade away from my throat, and raised it in surrender. He stood up slowly mindful of the arrow pointed at his skull. Once he was off me Phoebe lowered her bow, but she still had a scowl on her face. Jake put his blade away, and offered me a hand. I was about to take it until Phoebe swatted it away. "Keep your dirty hands away boy, we hunters have no need for a male's help." Phoebe growled.

"Okay, okay." Jake said as he took a few steps back. I gave Jake and apologetic look, and he shrugged before turning and limping over to Clarisse who was regaining consciousness. Clarisse had tossed her helm to the side by the time Jake got to her. He offered her a hand, which to my surprise she took. She didn't even make a fuss when he put a hand on her shoulder to steady her when she got a little wobbly upon standing. Jake looked concerned when he saw Clarisse's cheek which had a bruise where his kick impacted her helm. He touched her bruised cheek gingerly, and a sour feeling sprang up in my stomach. When Jake was brushing his fingers against her face he must've accidentally pressed to hard, because Clarisse winced.

"Sorry." Jake said quietly. Clarisse didn't say anything as Jake lightly touched her face again.

"Don't be." Clarisse finally managed to speak. "It's nothing that some ambrosia and a couple hours can't fix." Jake smiled as he seemed to get an idea.

"I'll do ya one better." He said as he took his hand off of his injured leg and reached into a pouch he had on the back of his pants. I winced when blood started running down his leg again. Jake pulled out a small cloth bag, and used his hand that wasn't cover in blood this fish something out. He put something in Clarisse's hand, and she stared at him like he was crazy. "Trust me." Jake said with an amused smile before he popped something into his mouth. Suddenly the gash on Jake's leg stopped bleeding and healed, not even leaving a scar. Form the way Jake was moving his left arm I could assume that the wound from the arrow healed like his leg.

Clarisse looked at Jake in awe before looking at whatever he had placed in her hand. "Screw it." She said as she popped it into her mouth and chewed it for a few seconds, then swallowing. Just like Jake the bruise on her cheek healed along with all of the other scrapes and bumps she got during the fight. "Wow that's WAY better than Ambrosia." She said in amazement. Jake chuckled a little.

"I told you it was." Jake said as Clarisse half-heartedly glared at him for laughing. Jake apologized for laughing, and then held out his hand. "Thank-You for a great fight Daughter of Ares, it truly was the best I've had in a long time." Jake had a small, but beautiful smile on his face as held out his hand to Clarisse.

Clarisse looked at Jake's hand, then at his face and back down to his hand. "Clarisse." She said calmly as she shook his hand. "My name is Clarisse LaRue." Jake's smile grew a little as they let go of each other's hand.

"Clarisse LaRue." Jake repeated. "Beautiful, but still strong. It definitely suits you." Jake added. "I look forward to fighting alongside you, Clarisse LaRue." Jake finished as he turn to walk away, leaving a blushing Clarisse to watch him as he walked away.

After a few steps Jake stopped and looked at something in his hand, then looked at me with a smirk. He then glances at Phoebe who was glaring at Percy as he marched triumphantly around the clearing, being congratulated by everyone. Then he threw whatever he was holding at me. I put my hand up to catch it and it seemed to glide straight into my hand. I looked back at Jake, and he gave me a nod. _'You gotta be kidding me.'_ I thought as I looked into my hand. It looked like a green soy bean. I gave Jake an 'Are you serious?' look. Jake raised his left arm, showing me that it was completely healed. _'Fuck it.'_ I thought as I popped the bean in my mouth. As I chewed I noticed that it didn't have a taste.

As soon as I swallowed it all of the scrapes and bruises I got during the fight healed completely, but not just that, the minor scratches that I got in the last hunt healed and even the stiffness that I felt throughout my body ever since I got out of the tree had vanished. I felt refreshed and re-energized. "Holy Hades!" I said as I popped to my feet. Jake gave me a bright smile before turning and walking toward the forest. I walked over to Clarisse who was still watching Jake walk away. "We'll get him next time." I said as I stood next to her.

"There isn't going to be a next time." Clarisse answered, not turning away from watching Jake. "At least not for me." She added.

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"If I ever have to fight against him again, I'd probably just end up falling in love with him or something." She said as Jake disappeared into the woods. "And if you ever tell anyone I said that." Clarisse said menacingly as walked in front of me towards the rest of the campers. "Not even your hunters will be able to save you." I looked at her with my jaw dropped as she walked over to her cabin mates.

I looked back at the woods that Jake had walked into. _'Who is that guy?'_ I thought to myself as I tried to figure out what this sour feeling in my chest that I got when Clarisse mentioned her falling in love with Jake was.

Jake's POV

I walked along a stream that flowed toward Zeus's fist still buzzing at the outstanding fight I just had. _'If even half of the campers here fight with the same conviction as those two, then they may stand a chance.'_ I thought to myself as I walked.

**"So that was the girl huh?"** A dark voice said. I stopped in my tracks and my smile disappeared. I looked at the stream flowing calmly next to me. I sighed as I walked over to the stream and crouched next to it. I looked at my reflection in the water. My mouth, my nose, the streak of gray in my dark brown hair. Finally the eyes. The whites of my eyes replaced with black and my crimson pupils now midnight purple.

My reflection gave me a smirk. **"That's the girl."** it said. **"The girl who made you go against him."** it added.

"Nobody made me do anything." I said, obviously annoyed. "I haven't made any choice yet."

**"There is no need to lie."** it said calmly. **"You and I are one. I knew from-"**

"We are not one." I interrupted, clenching my fists and trying to keep my cool "You're just a curse." I said threw gritted teeth.

**"Right."** It replied sarcastically. **"Even if after all this time you still don't believe that we are one, I ****_am_**** in your mind. Whether you admit it or not."**

"I know what I am, and I know what you are." I said sternly. My reflection didn't look convinced.

**"Whatever you say."** I could still hear the sarcasm in its voice. **"If you have yet to make a decision, then why help the Olympians when he sent us here to destroy them? Why not let Epimetheus wage his war?"**

"I am not going to kill them because of paranoia, and you and I both know that Epimetheus is getting help from someone that isn't from around here." I answered, slowly regaining my composure. "I want to know who it is."

**"How do you know it isn't one of the Olympians trying to gain enough power to actually do it?" **it asked.

"Firstly, a simple Olympian God wouldn't know how to absorb that much power, and secondly the army was raised too fast. Even if one of the Olympians is involved." I answered simply.

**"Gaea attacked almost immediately after Kronos."** It retorted.

"Yes, but Gaea had been patiently planning her resurrection for millennia. I doubt the Titan of excuses would have the patience, to plan so far in advanced." My reflection's smirk turned into a smile.

**"It seems you are finally learning how to look at the bigger picture, but even if this world's gods aren't helping the titan, they could still be a part of the reason he sent us here."** My reflection ran a hand through its hair and sighed. **"But I already know you're answer to that. Just try and keep history from repeating itself."**

Suddenly my reflection faded, and a new image began to form. Two bodies; a man, and a woman, lying next to each other hand-in-hand. I grit my teeth, as the memories came rushing back. Bodies badly beaten, cuts and bruises marred both bodies. The man's right eye swollen shut; the woman had a deep cut that ran across the bridge of her nose. Black fire slowly crawling up the bodies as if to torment me further by desecrating the bodies of the once beautiful couple even more. I know the deceased lovers, and I remember the day they died. Or rather the day my fear and my weakness got them killed. I swatted the water, breaking the image, and stood up and turned away from the stream, clenching my fist so tight my knuckles were probably white. After standing like that for a few seconds I took a deep breath and began to continue my walk to my campsite. _'As if I don't think about that day enough already.'_ I thought ad I walked.

**"That girl." **The voice said in a warning tone.** "You already lost her once, because you weren't strong enough. Don't let it happen again." **The voice warned as it faded into the back of my mind.

I needed to take my mind off of this little chat. _'Maybe I could help Leo with the Archimedes Scrolls.'_ I thought as I changed course and headed to back to camp.

Thalia's POV

After Capture-The-Flag I wanted to try and talk to Jake, he left the clearing before I had a chance to ask his any questions. Unfortunately I couldn't because I had to spend the next few hours trying to keep my hunters off the war path. Apparently a few of the Hephaestus guys came up with some rather… interesting traps. Hunter of Artemis or not, not girl wants to have to deal with having to with trying to clean sludge from Gods know where out of their hair.

I finally got my hunters to calm down as the dinner horn sounded. _'Damn it.'_ I thought as we ate. I didn't get to ask Jake any questions. _'Why?'_ I asked myself. I had so many questions. Why does he look at me with so much relief and sadness? Why do I feel connected to him? Why did I think he was going to kiss me? Why was I okay with him almost kissing me? Why do I feel like if he did kiss me I wouldn't have disliked it? Why do I feel like that wouldn't have been the first time we've kissed? Why am I so obsessed with kissing? Why did I feel sour when he was being so gentle with Clarisse? And now that I think about it, why isn't he here? I looked around the Dinning Pavilion and Jake wasn't anywhere in sight. I also noticed a very welcome lack of flirting from a certain son of Hephaestus. "Where are Jake and Leo?" I asked louder than I thought as I walked back to Artemis' table after getting more fruit.

"Why do you want to know?" A female voice asked from behind me. I turned around to see it was Nyssa, one of Leo's sisters. She was eyeing me suspiciously; because she knew that my hunters were ready to Tar-and-Feather Leo a couple hours ago.

"I don't really." I answered calmly. "I just noticed the lack of flirting with my hunters."

"Oh." She said relieved that I wasn't looking to hurt her brother. "Well as long as you're not trying to cut his balls off or anything."

"I wasn't planning on it." I said with a light laugh. I never understood why people assumed that we do that to men. We have so many other tortures for men that castration would only make men numb to.

"In that case he's been locked up in Bunker 9 with Jake since the game ended." She said.

"What are they doing there?" I asked. Jake didn't really strike me as the type of person who's into machinery.

"I'm not really sure." She said. She sounded a little upset that she wasn't involved in whatever they were doing. "Jake asked Leo about the Archimedes Scroll, and when Leo showed him one, Jake pointed something out that made Leo jump for joy like a damn energizer bunny… well more so than normal." I had a hard time picturing Leo any more energetic than he already is.

_'Gods help us.'_ I thought to myself when I finally settled on a mental picture of Leo standing on the shoulder of a homemade Dragon Zord, laughing like a mad man.

"Then after Leo finished his happy dance, he grabbed Jake by the arm and they ran off towards Bunker 9." Nyssa finished.

"Alright, thanks." I said as I walked back to my table. After dinner we all went to the sing along, which was actually pretty lively. The Hephaestus campers really went all out before they had to leave. I was watching a rather spectacular light show when I saw Leo talking with Nyssa and his other siblings. They all seemed ecstatic about something. I hadn't seen Jake anywhere, so when Leo finished talking with his siblings I walked over to him.

"Well hello there beautiful. Have you come to admit your true feelings for me?" Leo asked with a flirtatious smile, and a wink.

"Can it elf." I said while rolling my eyes. "Where is Jake? I heard he was with you."

"Oh man, Jake is a freakin' genius!" He exclaimed excitedly, as he pulled some junk out of his tool belt and started messing with it. I know Tami, one of my hunters who is also a daughter of Hephaestus does the same thing whenever she is nervous or excited. "He came up to me after the game and asked about the Archimedes Scrolls. He seemed really interested so I showed him the one that I've been the most interested in. After I had found the right algorithm to decode it, it turned out to be blueprints for some kind of super advanced circuits. I figured that it may have been the final piece I needed to finally be able to reconstruct a body for Festus, but all the prototypes I built all overloaded the Celestial Bronze wiring. Something about the power output being too much for the bronze…" Leo rambled on for about a good 5 minutes. That was another thing about Hephaestus' children I learned from Tami. When they start talking about mechanics they can talk for days.

"Leo!" I almost yelled, interrupting his ramblings.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "Anyway Jake suggested that I use Stygian Iron wires, as they are natural energy absorbers. Actually I don't think he even finished that sentence, because as soon as he said Stygian Iron wires I grabbed him and ran to Bunker 9. We spent the rest of the afternoon, and evening building a prototype. And it freakin' WORKED!" Leo jumped up in the air, and clicked his heels together. "Festus is going to have a body again! But I don't have enough Stygian Iron here too wire an entire body, so I Iris messaged Nico, and he agreed to bring a sizable amount of the stuff to Camp Jupiter tomorrow, so I can work on the body while I help with the rebuild."

"That's great!" I really was happy; Jason told me how lucky they were to have Festus when they went to save Hera. "But where is Jake?" I asked, trying not to sound too eager to know.

"Jake said he was going back to his camp site by Zeus's Fist." He answered.

"Thanks." I said quickly as I headed for the forest. _'I have to talk to him.'_ I thought to myself as I made my way to Zeus' Fist. As I walked towards Zeus' Fist I noticed a small camp fire light a few feet away from it. I slowed down when I heard a strange noise coming from the same direction as the light. I hid inside of some bushes on the edge of the clearing. I was only about 15 feet away from Jake, who was sitting on a log in front of a small fire. A few feet to his right, was a small black tent. His back was towards me, and he was tuning an ebony guitar. I noticed that he wasn't wearing his jacket, and he had an orange Camp-Half Blood T-shirt on. _'Damn.'_ I thought to myself as I admired how the shirt stretched slightly across his back muscles. When Jake was satisfied with the sound of his guitar he began to strum a few notes, and the whole forest seemed get quieter. But then Jake began to sing, and all of time seemed to stand still.

_If I had a pair of wings_

_I'd pick you and fly you far away from here_

_And you'd put your worries upon my shoulders, my dear_

_Now I know I can't save you_

_From the troubles of the world_

_And this sounds like such a silly thing_

_But if I could I'd fly you away_

_On a big ol' pair of wings_

_And if I had a pair of wings_

_I'd pick you and fly you far away from here_

_And we'd fly so high up in the sky where the stars are so clear_

_And then I could save you from the troubles of the world_

_And all you'd have to pack is your heart to bring_

_And there we are you and me_

_Flying on a big ol' pair of wings, mmm_

_We keep getting older, the world keeps getting colder_

_Tell me when did we lose our way?_

_It's so hard not to lose your mind in such crazy days_

_But if I had one wish, I know what I'd wish for_

_There's only one thing that will do_

_I'd fly away on this pair of wings with you_

_If I had a pair of wings_

_I'd scoop you up we'd fly away and disappear_

_Then you could put your worries upon my shoulders, my dear_

_Now I know I can't save you_

_From the troubles of the world_

_I know this sounds like such a silly thing_

_But if I could I'd fly you away_

_On a big ol' pair of wings_

_Now if I had a pair of wings_

_I'd pick you up and fly you far away from her_

_And I could stay right by your side and keep you so near_

_And then I could save you from the troubles of the world_

_And all you'd have to pack is your heart to bring_

_And there we are you and me flying on a big ol' pair of wings_

_We keep getting older, the world keeps getting colder_

_Tell me when did we lose our way?_

_It's so hard not to lose your mind in such crazy days_

_If I had one wish I know what I'd wish for_

_There's only one thing that will do_

_I'd fly away on this pair of wings with you_

_And if I had one wish I know what I'd wish for_

_There's only one thing that will do_

_I'd fly away on this pair of wings with you_

_I said if I had one wish I know what I'd wish for_

_There's only one thing that'll do_

_I'd fly away on this pair of wings with you_

After Jake played the last note I felt like I was able to breathe again, his voice was so unexpectedly beautiful. Jake stood up and walked over to his tent, waking from the trance his voice put me in. I thought he was going to sleep, but he just put the guitar in the tent and went back to the fire. This time he sat on a log on the other side of the fire facing me. I ducked down a little more in the bush hoping that he didn't notice me. I wanted to look at his face, and admire how beautifully the light of the fire danced on his skin. Jake was staring blankly into the fire, transfixed by the dancing blaze in front of him. I know I came here to talk to him, but at this moment I couldn't bring myself to do anything other than stare at him.

"Do you know the three constants in all of creation?" Jake asked out loud. I instantly stiffened. Did he know I was here? Not possible, I made she I hid my presence when I approached. "I know you're there Thalia." He said, still staring at the fire. "It's warmer by the fire, so you might as well come out." I stood up, and walked out of the bush, hoping that the darkness prevented Jake from seeing my blushing. Jake looked up from the fire and gave me a small smile. "That's better." He said motioning for me to sit on the log across from him. I sat down, thankful to be in the fire's warmth. Jake went back to looking into his campfire.

This was my chance, I had to ask him. "Why-" I started to ask.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Jake interrupted, still looking into the campfire. I looked at him, confused as to what question he was talking about. "Do you know the three constants in all of creation?" Jake asked again. I shook my head, but immediately realized that he couldn't see me while he was staring at the fire.

"What do you mean?" I ask quietly hoping that I wouldn't ruin this calm moment. A small smile played at Jake's lips.

"In all of time, space, and history you will always find three things no matter where you go." Jake looked up from the fire, and into my eyes. "Love." He said holding up one finger. "War." He said holding up two. "And music." He said holding up three fingers. "Music is by far my favorite." Jake said as he looked back down at the fire. I couldn't help feeling slightly sad when he looked away from me. "No matter what's happening, how bad things seem, or are music has the power to free your soul from all torment. If only for a few moments."

"You said music was your favorite. Do you have much experience with the others?" I ask trying to get back to the normal Thalia, not this fangirl I felt myself turning into.

"I don't have any experience with love." Jake answered calmly. I don't know why, but I felt hurt when he said that.

"What about war?" I ask.

"Yeah." He answered quietly, his eyes seemed to dim. "A lot of experience with that." Memories seemed to wash over him, like the light from the camp fire. From how dim his eyes got, I could tell that none of these memories were good. I still wanted to ask him a few questions, but at the moment it was taking all of my will power not to go over to him and hold him tightly. "Anyway." Jake said coming out of whatever flashbacks he was having. "What bring you here? You were about to ask me something?" He asked looking up from the fire. His eyes were a little brighter, but I could tell that whatever he was remembering hadn't completely left his mind.

"Why?" was I could manage to say.

"Why?" Jake repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Pretty vague question, don't you think?" Jake had a small smirk.

"You know what I mean." I said while rolling my eyes, happy that I was coming back to my senses. "Why do you look at me like you know me?" I asked.

"Oh no." He said waging his finger. "The deal was you beat me, and I tell you." I opened my mouth to protest, but Jake cut me off with a shrug. "Well I guess you technically didn't lose either." Jake thought for a moment. "Tell you what. I'll answer one question." He was looking me right in my eyes.

"Just one question?" I asked. Jake nodded in response. "And you'll answer me honestly?"

"I swear it on the Styx." Jake answered with a confident smile. Thunder boomed in the distance. I eyed him for a few moments.

"Okay then. Why do you look at me like you know me?" I asked.

"You sure that's what you wanna ask?" Jake asked me back. I nodded, and he gave me a small smile. "I look at you the way I do, because I do know you Thalia Grace." I just stared at him. How could he know me? Where could he know me from? You think I'd remember a guy like him.

"How? When?" I asked. Jake just shook his head.

"The deal was one question." He said looking back into the fire. He looked kind of hurt that I really didn't remember. I was about to protest when the curfew horn rang.

_'Damn it.'_ I thought to myself. I needed to know the whole story.

"Looks like we are out of time." Jake said with a small smile. "You should head back. We wouldn't want the harpies taking a bite out of you." He said with a light laugh. I couldn't argue with him. His laugh had completely beaten me. I just nodded as I stood up, and began walking back in the direction of the cabins. I looked back and saw Jake putting out his fire.

When I made it out of the forest I looked around and noticed that most of the campers were already in their cabins. The only ones still out were the couples getting in their last few kisses of the night; I couldn't help but smile when I saw Percy, and Annabeth laughing like fools as Percy tickled Annabeth's side. I quickly made my way to my father's cabin; I had too much on my mind to be around my Hunters. When I got in my cabin I instantly locked the door and changed into a pair of blue plaid pajama pants with a matching blue tank top.

After brushing my teeth I laid in my bed and let my thoughts wonder. I thought about the Titan War and how I had joined the hunt to get out of being the child of prophecy, which meant I had to suppress the crush I had on Percy. It was hard at first, but after a while I got over him. I thought about the Giant War. I still get IMs in the middle of the night from a sobbing Annabeth after she has a nightmare about Tartarus. I thought about this coming war. Jake was right, we really didn't know anything about our enemy. Hell there isn't even a prophecy, which everyone found to be more than a little strange. After much resistance my mind went to Jake. He is a total enigma, everything about him was unexplained. Chiron insisted that he was a friend that came to help us, but if that's the case then where was he before? _'I could've asked him that.'_ I thought, then began mentally face palming, and a couple real ones as I thought of at least a dozen better questions I could've asked. _'Damn that voice of his!'_ I cursed, remembering how I was basically putty after I hearing him sing. I let out an exasperated sigh, and pulled the blankets over my head to hide myself from the outside world, like a child.

In the safety of my dark bubble I allowed myself a small smile. Jake really did have a beautiful voice. My mind seemed to be stuck on Jake, and I was too tired to fight it anymore so I just let my mind go. I thought about his strange appearance to camp. I wonder how he's managed to survive on his own so long; he doesn't seem to be much older than me. _'Physically at least.'_ I thought. My body is still fifteen, so he must be about sixteen.

I soon realize my mental mistake. Now I couldn't stop thinking about Jake's physical appearance. How the orange Camp Half-Blood shirt he was wearing stretched slightly over his back muscles and broad shoulders. How the sleeves wrapped tightly around his muscular arms; and how the shirt hugged very well-toned chest, going down his torso and covering his six-pack abs. that I may or may not have stolen a couple glances at when Clarisse cut his shirt during the Capture-the-Flag game. _'I wonder what he looks like shirtless.'_ That was my second to last thought before I fell asleep. My last thought, well it was more of a feeling. I had a feeling that I had already seem him shirtless.

Thalia's Dream

(**A/N: Thalia is having the exact same dream she had in Ch.2, so if you don't want to read it again feel free to skip to the end of the dream**)

_ "Hurry!" Luke yelled back while he ran._

_ "Right be behind you!" I yelled. Luke and I had been traveling together for a while now. We still hadn't met little Annabeth yet. Luke and I were in bad shape. 3 days ago we ran into a group of Dracanae, we were still tired from the 2 giants we had battled the day before. Now here we are running for our lives. Less than a mile away from a safe house that Luke and I had set up a while back._

_ 'We'll be okay if we can just make it to the safe house.' I repeated in my head as I ran. When suddenly I was lifted into the air. One of the Dracanae had caught me by my hair. I regretted letting it get so long, and promised myself that if I survived this I would never let my hair grow out this long again. "Luke!" I screamed._

_ "Almost there Thals!" Luke yelled as he turned to look back at me. When he saw me being held by a Dracanae his eyes widened and he started to pale. He didn't have time to think or speak he just acted. Luke threw his sword with all of his might; it spun through the air like a Frisbee and cut through my hair causing me to fall and land on my butt._

_ I let out a small yelp when I hit the ground. When I looked up I saw the Dracanae still looming over me clutching my hair tightly, with Luke's sword lodged deep in its chest, slowly turning into golden dust._

_ "Thalia we have to go now!" Luke yelled as he ran towards me. I felt like I weighed a million pounds. My body didn't seem to want to move. He picked up his sword and grabbed my wrist. "C'mon." He said as he turned to run, but it was too late. The other 3 Dracanae had already gotten behind us. 'This is it.' I thought, as we stood and watched the one in the middle lift its sword preparing to deliver the final blow. Luke put his arm around me and brought me closer. "Get down!" Some yelled behind us. I didn't get a chance to see who it was because without hesitation Luke brought me into his chest and ducked down on top of me. Then everything went black._

End of Dream

I let out a frustrated sigh as I woke in another cold sweat. Excluding the past two nights, I hadn't dreamt about Luke and me since he sacrificed himself at the end of the Titan war. I lost my brother that day. I sat up and stretched out my arms, before looking at the clock. I was 6:30; the Argo II was scheduled to leave for Camp Jupiter at 8:30 after breakfast. I got up and took a shower, relishing in the hot water that you really miss when you spend 4 months hunting monsters across the country. After my shower I put on a fresh hunter's uniform and headed to the Dinning Pavilion. It was 7:10 when I arrived for breakfast. The Hephaestus campers were all of either loading up the Argo II or drawing up blueprints. I went over to Artemis' table, where my hunters were still fuming about the game yesterday Phoebe seemed to be especially pissed at the way Jake had spoken to her and I. I tried my best to calm my hunters down by reminding them that they would be leaving camp in 4 more days.

It seemed to work, so I began looking around the Pavilion. Everybody seemed to be back to their usual routines, the Hermes campers were laughing loudly, Percy and Annabeth were sneaking glances at each other (poorly I might add), the Aphrodite campers we all doing their make-up and gossiping with one another. I noticed that Piper wasn't at her table. I looked around and saw her standing by the buffet table talking with…. With Jake. _'What could Piper want with Jake?'_ I thought to myself. I felt a familiar sourness in my stomach when I saw them both laughing, so I turned my attention back to my hunters who were excited to show up the Apollo kids in today's archery class.

After breakfast we all gathered to bid farewell to the Argo II. Once the ship had vanished from sight everyone went to their morning activities. I was turned to head to the archery range when I noticed Piper and Jake walking towards the arena, which I found to be weird since there were no swordsmanship classes until Percy got back from Camp Jupiter.

"Well it' 'bout time." A high pitched female voice said. I turned around and saw Drew Tanaka stand behind me with a smirk on her face.

"Time for what?" I asked her.

"Time for Piper to fulfill her calling as a Daughter of Aphrodite." Drew said, and when I turned my body to look at her I saw she had a smug smile plastered on her face.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Well when _I_ was in charge it was a rite of passage for my sisters to take a guy to the arena when nobody was there for… _private lessons_." She eyed my, making sure that I understood her meaning.

"Piper would never do that." I quickly protested.

"And why wouldn't she?" Drew asked me with a raised eyebrow.

"Because she has a boyfriend." I said getting annoyed.

"You mean the Roman Praetor who she hasn't seen since the end of the war. The one who spends every day with another woman." She points out. I was really pissed now, not only did she say that Piper was about to cheat on my brother, but she was also implying that my brother was cheating on his girlfriend. "I'm surprised it took her so long to move on." She added "I'm just mad that she got to Jake before I did."

"Listen here you little bitch." I growl. "My brother would never cheat on Piper, and Piper would never cheat on him. Drew looked taken back, but I just turned and walked off before she could respond. _'There's no way.'_ I thought to myself as I walked to the archery range but it was too late, the idea was already in my head. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I didn't know Piper that well. I only really met her the one time during their quest to rescue Hera. The hunters, and the children of Artemis tend to not get along for obvious reasons but I couldn't picture Piper as a cheater. _'Still, Daughters of Aphrodite aren't known for their faithfulness. Hell, Aphrodite's affair with Ares is the worst kept secret in all of Olympus'_ I thought as I stopped in my tracks halfway to the range. I starred arena for a good 20 minutes. _'Damn it all.'_ I thought as I speed walked to the arena. You are taught two things as soon as you join the hunt, 1. Never trust a male and 2. Never trust a Daughter of Aphrodite.

When I got to the arena I noticed that the door was closed. I was about to open it when I heard someone breathing heavy. "That was amazing!" a female voice said, I soon realized it was Piper.

"Yes I was." Said a male voice. Jake. "You a very quick learner." He added.

I opened the door, and closed it quietly behind me. When I turned around I saw Piper in the middle of the arena… STRADDLING JAKE!

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And this concludes Chapter 4. I hope you liked it. Please leave me a review, and let me know what you think.

Stay Motivated.


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